The presentation for the July meeting was an overview of Exoplanets given by club member Brian Reasor. The slide-talk and video pulled together Exoplanet topics such as how many are known to exist (1700+) and where they are located (mostly within 500 light years of our sun).
Elections The new officers were voted in. Here is the tally of votes. Co-Chairs – Chris Cole, Mike Keefe, Brian Reasor 15 Yes votes at the meeting, 14 Yes votes on line, 29 Total Yes votes Treasurer – Danny Marbell 15 Yes votes at the meeting, 14 Yes votes on line, 29 Total Yes votes Secretary – Ann Murphy 15 Yes votes at the meeting, 14 Yes votes on line, 29 Total Yes votes
Several Raleigh Astronomy Club members supported the International Sun-Day events at the North of Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. At the start of the event (12 noon) the weather was not at all cooperative with almost 100% cloud cover. However holes in the clouds began to appear by 2pm and by 3pm we started to get some solar observing in. The sun was somewhat quite today without a lot of activity / sun spots. By around 3:30 we were able…
Mark Lang and Phyllis Lang gave an excellent presentation on two astronomical conventions. The first was NEAF (North Eastern Astronomy Forum). This was held in Rockland Community College in Suffern, NY on April 12 and 13 of this year. It was organized this year by the Rockland Astronomy Club (RAC). There were many vendors selling all sorts of astronomy equipment. Phyllis sells astronomy planning software and had a booth. The event itself had many good speakers and presenters as well. …
February 24, 2014 Attended: Ian Hewitt, Mike Keefe, Chris Cole, Ann Murphy, Chuck Jaynes
Public Events Statewide Star Party – Part of the NC Science Festival – 4/4 – 4/5 This was a big success. The 4/4 day was cancelled, due to weather. Annie Wilkerson Nature Preserve could not make up the day on 4/5. This will be made up in the fall. Prairie Ridge and Howell Woods were able to have the Star Party. There was at least 100 people at the Howell Woods location.
For the May indoor meeting, RAC member Chris Cole had a very interesting presentation on the different planetary filters and their uses. The presentation used images (from both Chris’ personal collection and NASA) to compare the effects of various filters including colored wratten, UV, and IR filters. He also discussed what types of objects and conditions benefited from using these filters. Chris Cole had many of the filters he talked about and he demonstrated them to the audience. There were…
On Saturday, April 26, several astronomers from RAC and CHAOS traveled down to Camp Durant near Carthage, NC to support the Cub-aroo event for the Boy Scouts of America. The event including day and night time observing, as well as lectures. There were five astronomers for solar observing and lecturing, and three astronomers for night time observing. Despite being plagued with clouds, some good views of the Mars and Jupiter.
On Friday, April 26, RAC astronomers presented an observing session as part of an astronomical program for Girl Scouts at Camp Mary Atkinson, located outside Clayton NC. We had about 45 girls from all over eastern North Carolina and 4 volunteer astronomers, Frederic Fogg, Michael Mantini, John Nigro, and Clay Coor. The girls divided into 2 shifts of about 22 girls each, and each shift of girls spent about an hour at the telescopes.
Report Period: 1 Jan 2014 – 31 Mar 2014 Income & Expenses INCOME Membership Dues 2,025.00 Interest 1.10 Total $2,026.10 EXPENSES PayPal Transaction Fees (PayPal) -55.40 Liability Insurance (Marsh U.S. Consumer) -320.00 Office Supplies (Ian Hewitt) -146.06 Total -$521.46 Account Balances Business Checking 3,748.78 ($0.00 uncleared) PayPal 198.39 Regular Savings 10,315.39 ($470.65 Renee Ward Memorial Fund) Special Purpose 459.67 Total $14,722.23 Memberships Individual Memberships 70 Family Memberships 32 Total Memberships 102 New Memberships 32 Renewed Memberships 69 Lifetime Memberships 1…
April in the Carolinas can bring storms and this month’s observing session was a casualty of one of these events. Strong storms moved through the area on Friday evening forcing cancellation of the session for the safety of our members and guests, as well as cancellation of the indoor informal meeting.
The regular indoor meeting on April 10 featured a great presentation from Matthew Goodson from the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of Physics and Astronomy speaking on the formation of the Solar System. Matthew talked about the process for forming the solar system and about some of the work they are doing on this at UNC-Chapel Hill.
The Raleigh Astronomy Club was to host 3 venues for the 2014 Statewide Star Party as part of the NC Science Festival. Due to poor weather, events planned for Friday night were postponed to either Saturday night or later in the year.
Public Events – Looking for volunteers for these events. Please contact the coordinators or the yahoo list to volunteer.
Michel Tournay is always a good presenter and has presented to the club before. He travels to many exotic places capturing eclipses. In addition to capturing the eclipse, he will also capture the interesting aspects of the place. This presentation was no exception.
